Wood block



June23,1936. R B E 2,045,067

WOOD BLOCK Filed Dec. 8, 1950 WW? En Patented June 23, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

woon BLOCK Robert G. Bruce, Memphis, Tenn assignor to E. L. Bruce Company, Memphis, Tom, a corporation of Delaware Application December 8, 1930, Serial No. 500,083

1 Claim. (Ci. 20-8) My inventionv relates to a wood block for use in floors, walls. ceilings and similar places and has One of the advantages from. a manufacturing standpoint of the block disclosed in Patent No. 1,778,068, having one tongue and three grooves, as compared with the block disclosed in Patent No. 1,778,069, having two integral tongues, is that it is possible to use shorter strips for the former as compared with the latter, for blocks having the same face dimensions.

wooden spline tongue in which the grain of the wood runs lengthwise of the spline and machining the said wooden spline tongue to size after it has been secured in position in said groove.

ROBERT G. BRUCE.

particularly in view the production of a fabricated In making the same size blocks, i. e. with the block that can be laid without the use of slip same face dimensions, one having two integral tongues, i. e. tongues that are slipped into positongues at right angles to each other, and the 5 tion during the laying of the blocks in the floor. other having a single integral tongue and three Referring to the drawing for a more complete grooves, the overall dimensions of the strips in disclosure of the invention the former will be longer than that of the strips Fig. 1 is a top view of the finished block with in the latter to the extent of the'depth of the fragmentary sections, tongue, which is normally about $4 of an inch. Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, The saving of material due to the use of shorter Fig. 3 is a section'on the line 33 of Fig. 1. slats, where large quantities are used becomes a The fabricated block consists preferably of factor in the cost of production. short strips of flooring 2, with the grain running By my improved block, I am able to secure some lengthwise of the strips, and having a groove 3 of the advantages of both of the types of blocks 15 along one longitudinal edge of the strips intodisclosed inthe Fetz patents.

which fits the tongue 4 along the opposite ed Into one f the v s I pr ss a wood spl of the adjacent strips. The underside of the l2, with a sufllciently tight fit, so that it will refiooring strips is provided with the customary main securely fixed in position without the use hollow back 5 and there is the customary clearof glue, although of course it could be glued in 20 ance or relief 6 between the strips. Before or with the same effect. The grain of t Spline after the strips have been assembled to form a runs lengthwise of the spline and serves to make block, grooves I are cut in the ends of the strips. the block more rigid. f e t Sp ne tongue The strips are fitted tongue to groove and are H S in posi on. t is emachined, o as to brin locked together in any suitable manner, such as it to exact size for freely fitting the groove of the by means of a metal spline 8, tightly fitting in the a j cent l k- Pr viding a t ue f th p groove 9, as fully described and claimed in the permits the use of wastewood in manufacturing patent of C. W. Allen 1,808,623 granted June 2, the Spline- 1931. While I have illustrated my invention in con- When the fabricated block is thus far assemnection with two tongue blocks in which the adbled, there is an integral tongue l0 running .iacent corners are cut away to permit interntting lengthwise of the grain of the block, and a groove of the blocks, the same construction can be used II also running lengthwise of the grain of the with right and l ft l as disclosed n h block. aforesaid patent to Fetz No. 1,778,069.

In addition there are two grooves l heretofore I claim: described and running transversely of the grain The method of manufacturing a wood block of the strips. A block of such construction is that is made up of a plurality of slats secured disclosed in the patent to.Werner Fetz 1,778,068 together with the grain of the wood running October 14, 1930, wherein slip tongues are used lengthwise of the slats and having two tongues in the laying of the blocks in a floor. and two grooves at an angle to and adjacent to It has been found advantageous to dispense each other respectively, comprising providing a with slip tongues in the laying of wood block block with an integral tongue on one edge and flooring, using instead a wood block that has two along the longitudinal side of one of the slats, integral tongues as disclosed in the patent to securely fastening in the groove of the block that Fetz 1,778,069 October 14, 1930. is cut transversely of the grain of the wood, a 

